ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In 2019, the proud Denver Broncos franchise is “living in a world of suck.”
Emmanuel Sanders lit social media on fire as he made the phrase public on Sunday afternoon moments after the Broncos fell to the Packers and dropped to 0-3 on the season.
What initially seemed to be a veteran receiver bringing a harsh reality to the entire franchise actually turned out to be words straight from the head coach’s mouth.
“He was just repeating what I had said in the locker room after the game,” Vic Fangio admitted on Monday. “I told them, ‘We’re going to have to deal with everybody thinking we suck.’ All of us—not just players [but] coaches, everybody in the whole organization. And we need to deal with that. So he was basically just repeating what I had said.”
Phew, let these words from the head honcho sink in.
Not only are the Broncos winless on the season, but they are also currently riding the NFL’s longest losing streak at seven, dating back to last year and the Vance Joseph era.
So, how does a first-time head coach deal with this self-admitted suckage?
“You just have a strong upper lip, look at the positives, realize what the negatives are, do your best to correct those negatives and know who you are as a person, as a team and as a player and as a coach,” Fangio explained. “We’ve all had some success to different degrees throughout our careers, even the players, the young ones, us as coaches and we’ve just got to stick it. Get through the hard times.”
In Cleveland, before the Baker Mayfield era, the hard times were branded as a rebuild. Now, in the sunshine of Miami, they call the hard times a rebuild.
In Denver, with nearly an entirely new coaching staff, two new quarterbacks, new schemes all around and “living in a world of suck,” is it time to call it what many believe, a rebuild?
“No, we’ve got the players here to win,” Fangio said, immediately brushing off the notion that the Broncos are rebuilding. “I believe in these players, I enjoy being around them every day. They are a bunch of good guys. They are trying their butts off. We just have to play a little bit better. Along with that, we have to coach better. If we’re breaking down fundamentally in certain areas in critical times, that’s an inditement on us as coaches, not just the players.”
This organization isn’t used to losing, especially at the beginning of the year. In fact, it’s been two decades since the Broncos last started 0-3. But Fangio, whose been in the NFL for over three decades, has seen plenty of his fair share of hard times.
“You just fight through it,” he said, explaining the approach he and the Broncos need to take. “The easiest thing to do is to just make wholesale changes—whether it be personnel, scheme, this, that, or the other thing. There’s the old saying, ‘Keep doing the same thing and expect different results, that’s not very smart.’”
“But there’s also a saying, too, ‘Change for just change sake isn’t very smart, either.’ So we’ve got to operate that fine like as a staff and realize what we’re doing, are the mistakes we’re making correctable and then make a good intelligent decision.”
While the world outside the UCHealth Training Center is up in flames in the Mile High City, inside the team is calmly staying the course because they believe things can get turned around.
“And when you say turn around, I’m just looking to get to this game. I’m not looking at the entire season,” Fangio stated on Monday, pointing to Sunday’s Week 4 game against Jacksonville. “We just got to figure out a way to go out and play our best, cleanest game this week. And yes I do think we can [get it turned around].”
There’s still a chance for the Broncos to turn things around in a big way. Of teams that start 0-3, less than three percent make the playoffs. But yes, I’m telling you there’s a chance.
